Ink
by MonumentForTheDead
Summary: Roxie Hart's debut night couldn't be more perfect; a full house with a crazed, cheering audience, costumes designed by herself, and a discovery about her dance partner that will keep her awake for many nights.


**Hello my lovelies! It's me again with another fluffly story that came to me when I was researching 1920's tattoos, and I just asked myself "why not?"**

 **Anyway, I'm not going to make this fic a part of my Scintillating Sinners work because the "starter" wasn't in the list I took from Tumblr, but rather an original idea.**

 **Soooo here you have it! I hope you all enjoy!**

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Roxie Hart never considered herself to be someone with a heightened sixth sense, but she knew that sharing a dressing room with Velma Kelly would only lead to trouble in the future. Not to mention it was a stab in her own pride; so she wasn't worthy of her own dressing room?

" _The place is small, kid. Besides, one thing I learned in the show business is to keep yourself humble… That might be difficult for you though."_ Velma had said once Roxie complained out loud about how unfair and how inconsiderate the managers have been with her. She replied to Velma's rather acidic advice with a snarky remark about the time Velma had crawled to her feet back in prison. This almost cost her a black eye hadn't she be quick enough to duck.

Anyway, the shared dressing room was the last thing that crossed Roxie's mind that night where all her dreams came true; her debut night. The night where Velma had been sympathetic enough to look at her in the eyes and tell her she would do great, the night Velma took the blonde's hands into her own and told her to stop shaking or God helped her, she would kill her. The night her heart pounded against her chest stronger than the band's drums, and her blood rushed through her in an adrenaline high.

She was living her most brilliant and dazzling dream. Sure, the stage was ridiculously small and she had to squeeze herself and mind her own movements in order not to hit Velma as they both danced, but she was finally making her own act; with her own costumes, her own songs, and with the partner she always fantasized about having ever since she first laid eyes upon the brown haired beauty that now grabbed her hand and bowed to the crowd with her.

Roxie was elated; she reached the backstage still holding Velma's hand and she only let go of her when the brunet enveloped her in a tight hug. It was easy to forget she hated Velma that way, especially when she had done the best performance she could imagine and she could still hear the crowd cheering her in her mind.

Now that her mind was clearer and she could only hear the faint music from another act play on the stage, she found herself smiling idly as she took her faux jewels and placed them carefully on the cheap boudoir; fake trinkets that had no actual value, but she treasured nonetheless. From the mirror she could catch a glimpse of Velma's back, and the brunet's hands struggling with the zipper. She heard a curse coming from Velma followed by the sight of her trying to take off the dress from the bottom. Roxie laughed, amused by the show.

" _Do you need any help with that?"_

Velma turned to face the blonde, and for a second she seemed angered by Roxie's suggestion that she couldn't unzip her own costume, but she soon sighed and offered her back to her partner, who quickly reached for the very difficult zipper in the dress.

" _I never thought the great Velma Kelly couldn't manage to get out of her own stage costumes!"_ Roxie teased, gaining a playful but rather strong slap in her thigh when Velma blindly attacked her.

" _It's not my fault! You designed those damn dresses… Couldn't you figure out some easier way to take them off?"_

" _You're welcome, Velma"_ Roxie snickered after pulling down the zipper with ease.

The brunet didn't respond, and before Roxie could turn her back on her to focus on her own costume, she saw Velma's hands reach for the straps in the dress; the now unzipped slit opened up to reveal her partner's strong, ivory back, her shapely waist and two very curious marks on both sides of it. Roxie quirked an eyebrow and she wouldn't have noticed she made a weird sound with her throat had Velma not gazed back to focus on her.

" _What? Do you like 'em?"_ Amber eyes squinted when Velma smiled, amused by Roxie's amazement on the adorn she had on her back.

" _Are those real?"_ The blonde asked, wanting to reach a hand and touch the skin marked in black in front of her, but she restrained herself.

Velma laughed wholeheartedly at the question; it was cute – she thought – having the blonde gazing wide-eyed at her for just having a tattoo on her back; a part of her even wished for the girl to touch it.

" _Of course they're real! Why wouldn't they be?"_

" _It's Ingre's Violin!"_ Roxie exclaimed, which made Velma's smile widen.

" _Yeah, I really like Man Ray's work… Do you think it looks good on me?"_

Roxie studied the tattoo for a long moment; the black sound-holes of a violin painted on Velma's very curvaceous waist made the impeccable illusion that she was an actual musical instrument; symmetrical, elegant… Perfect. She had seen Man Ray's picture before, but it was completely different to have the work of art standing right in front of you, on an actual live person, especially such a beautiful person Velma was.

" _I like it… It suits you"_ Roxie answered meekly, turning around quickly before Velma could notice the blush on her cheeks.

Velma smiled widely, proceeding to remove the now opened dress. From the other side of the claustrophobic dressing room Roxie watched from the mirror as her partner stood in her lingerie, and sooner than she liked it to be, Velma's skin along with her tattoos were already covered by her day-to-day navy dress.

The night ended and Roxie was already preparing herself for going to bed, but the sight of Velma's tattoos remained stuck on her mind like ink, and she would caught herself thinking about them before she could stop. It also didn't help that Velma chose to wear a semi-transparent nightgown to sleep; the blonde knew that choice of garments were intentional, especially when Velma made sure to wish her goodnight – something she had never done in the entire time span they had lived together – before going to her room, her hips swaying with each step, the violin sound-holes in her back clearly visible through the sheer fabric.

The blonde settled in her bed with a feeling of satisfaction within her heart; her debut night had been a success, the audience loved her just like she knew they would, she was a star, and she had a very attractive violin as her dance partner.

Damn, she _really_ couldn't take those tattoos off her mind, could she?

" _She's not really a violin, if you think about it… Doesn't look like one"_ Roxie thought with herself as she rolled around in her bed, trying to force herself to sleep.

" _No, she looks more like a cello… I'd rather imagine her like a cello… Bigger, with a deep voice, intense in her sounds, subtle; but not quite all the same"_ She settled, with a grin on her face, proud of her very detailed comparison, but the rational part of her brain knew exactly why she preferred to imagine Velma as a cello.

After all is much more fun to put a cello between your legs than a violin on your neck.

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 **Velma having a tattoo on her back just sounds so canon to me I can't imagine her without one now xD**

 **I was torn between a dragon tattoo or the Ingre's Violin (I put the original artwork on the cover of this fic), but I decided on the latter because that's a tattoo I want to do on my back eventually, and I really really love this surrealist work of art from 1924. Plus, I think Velma would make the decision of having the sound holes tattooed on her back the moment she saw the photograph, like, "Yep, that's the thing I'm going to put on my skin"**

 **Anyway, Roxie is impressed because I don't think she'd ever saw a tattoo in her life before...? And also because Velma is gorgeous, but we all know that! hahaha**

 **Anyway, what do you think of this fanfic? Wanna leave any suggestions, critics, ideas, love? Review and/or PM me! I'll be really grateful!**

 **Thank you so much for reading!**


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